by Ryan Dunleavy and Keith Sargeant, USA TODAY Sports, USATODAY

by Ryan Dunleavy and Keith Sargeant, USA TODAY Sports, USATODAY

Former Rutgers athletics director Tim Pernetti soon will take on an executive role with a New York-based Major League Soccer expansion team, according to a source with knowledge of the situation.

The hire is expected to be officially announced next week. Bloomberg News, which first reported the news, says Pernetti will be named the franchise's chief business officer.

Pernetti resigned from his post at his alma mater in April in the wake of the Rutgers men's basketball scandal surrounding former coach Mike Rice's verbal and physical abuse of players, which was made public when ESPN aired video tapes of practice. The Bergen County resident's four-year tenure was highlighted by his role in helping Rutgers land a future spot in the prestigious and lucrative Big Ten Conference just as its old home, the former Big East, was crumbling.

Pernetti, whose gross pay in 2012 was $508,710 according to New Jersey Press Media's DataUniverse database, received a severance package worth at least $1.2 million from Rutgers.

The New York Yankees and the English Premier League's Manchester United teamed up in May to found the New York City Football Club. MLS's 20th franchise is supposed to begin play in 2015, though it does not yet have a home stadium.

Keith Sargeant and Ryan Dunleavy also write for the Asbury Park (N.J.) Press., a Gannett property